President Anastasiades to meet again with Lute

Lute to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci today

Newsroom / CNA

17 DECEMBER 2018 - 09:30

Anastasiades, will meet again with the special envoy of the UN Secretary General on the Cyprus problem, Jane Holl Lute, in the coming days, after her meeting with the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, according to Government Spokesman, Prodromos Prodromou.

In statements to the media, Prodromou said that Sunday's meeting between Anastasiades and Lute was creative and productive and that there was a discussion on the terms of reference and the crucial issues of the Cyprus problem. He said, howeve,r that amid crucial consultations on the continuation of Cyprus’ talks, it was better to avoid comments.

According to sources, no joint meeting between Lute and the two leaders will take place. Lute is scheduled to meet with Akinci on Monday at 1000 local time.

Referring to an interview President Anastasiades gave to Euronews and his references regarding Cyprus’ natural resources, Prodromou said that what President Anastasiades said is that it should be clear that since natural and energy wealth of the island is in the state's responsibility on behalf of all Cypriots, the Turkish Cypriot community will have its share.

He went on to say that it would take at least five years for the commercial exploitation of Cyprus’ natural gas and that until then there is plenty of time to have a settlement of the Cyprus problem.

"Under an agreement for a solution, we will refer to the convergence achieved in the past during the negotiations about a reasonable allocation of gas revenues," he added. Therefore, he said, “no one could claim that the Republic of Cyprus, on behalf of the Greek Cypriots alone, is trying to take advantage of the natural wealth”.

"On the contrary, the Republic of Cyprus acts on behalf of all its citizens and when the time comes for revenues, there will be a mechanism for sharing the allocation of the benefit to all Cypriot citizens," he said.